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No explosives or other hazardous substances were found in suspicious packages on a delivery truck that set off an electronic monitor Monday morning at the Delaware Air National Guard Base, officials say.

The hand-held sensor security police used to check the packages worked as advertised, detecting trace amounts of a chemical used both in explosives and home gardening. The traces, however, were on the outside of the boxes and could have been picked up anywhere along the way, the base's civil engineer said.

"I opened all four packages after we had X-rayed them," said Air Force Maj. Devin Tomaseski. There was nothing hazardous inside, he said.

"I believe that it was something on the outside of the box that set it off," Tomaseski said.

Two of the packages turned out to be aircraft repair parts and dental supplies, he said. The latter box was a supply of new syringes.

"There was no biological hit," he said. "There was nothing in there that would have set it off."

Officials wouldn't elaborate further or describe the contents of the other two boxes, citing security concerns.

"We don't want to discuss all the details of the system so it can be circumvented," Guard spokesman Army Lt. Col. Len Gratteri said.

The sensor - a multi-capable device about the size of a small vacuum that can detect explosives, biological and chemical substances, and other threats - was employed during a random check by base security forces as the UPS truck carrying the packages arrived at the front gate of the base at about 10:15 a.m.

Gratteri said all the boxes on the truck were initially inspected and that four, all of them addressed to the air base, "warranted an additional look." The call went out to the base's 166th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal team, and other authorities followed.

The "all-clear" signal was issued at 12:24 p.m., allowing the 200 or so personnel who worked in buildings near the front gate and were evacuated as a precaution about two hours earlier to return to the base, Gratteri said.

Tomaseski stressed that the trace finding was not a "false positive."

"The machine worked as it was supposed to," he said.

The base's front gate is accessed via Commons Boulevard near New Castle, just south of Interstate 95.